Al-Khalāṣī

We know very little about ‘Abd al‑Qādir al-Khalāṣī’s life and work. According to Maalouff (1923, p. 362) he died in 1785/6 and wrote a summary of the earlier, larger treatise on agriculture entitled Jāmi‘ farā’id al-malāḥah fī jawāmi‘ fawā’id al-filāḥah by the 15th/16th century Damascene author Raḍī al-Dīn al-Ghazzī al‑‘Amirī. This was actually one of three abridgements of Al‑‘Amirī’s treatise written during the late-17th and 18th centuries – the first being the Kitāb ‘alam al-malāḥa fī ‘ilm al-filāḥa, ‘Book of the mark of elegance in the science of agriculture’, by ‘Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī (1641-1731), followed by the Risālat al‑bayān wa-al‑ṣarāḥa bi-talkhīṣ kitāb al-malāḥa fī ‘ilm al-filāḥa, ‘Explanation and summary of the book of elegance in the science of agriculture’, by Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsá ibn Kannān (1663/4-1740/1). Presumably, like his predecessors in the field, Al-Khalāṣī was also from Damascus.

We would like to hear from anyone who has any further reliable sourced information on Al-Khalāṣī.